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Thursday, 28 January 2016

Plenty of Questions still for England

So the series was won and whilst going to the number one
ranked side in the world and gaining a win in their backyard is nothing to be
sniffed at, I can’t help feeling that there will be plenty of questions for the
England management to ponder. A fourth innings defeat where we were skittled
for 101, needs to be consigned to Room 101 as we wrote the other day. A dead rubber, a meaningless Test
perhaps some might say but in international cricket there is no such thing and
for the experienced England fan we have seen the problems before. At
the end of every tour there is more of a 360 degree appraisal than a post
mortem. However the truth is staring us in the face that England have serious
problems in some key positions and until those are tackled this young,
promising team won’t get any better. It’s the difference between being number
one in the world or to be happy and content to be amongst the pack.

Cook...questions

England have four world class players. Joe Root is up there
with Kane Williamson as one of the best batsmen in world cricket at present, no
doubt about it. The skipper Alastair Cook isn’t too far behind despite his
struggles here, as the record books show us. Another to have a disappointing
tour was James Anderson but with four hundred plus Test wickets he is also a
shoe in for any side and with his partner in crime Stuart Broad having an
ability to decimate batting line ups in bursts, these four underpin the England
side. Behind the fab four, Steven Finn and Ben Stokes are moving up there into
the elite category and when fit are ‘shoe ins’ in the side. Moeen Ali is worth
his place, although he will be disappointed with his return with both bat and
ball in South Africa. However, there are a few whose reputations have gone
south in South Africa.

The most pressing has been one that seems to be the sixty
four dollar question for the England selection committee and has been for a
number of years which is who should open with the skipper? Compton, Root, Lyth,
Robson, Carberry and now Hales have all had problems in that role. Hales is a
quality player in the one day arena but his foot movement which is akin to Douglas Bader and going
hard at the ball, will get him into trouble in the five day game. Trevor
Bayliss has gone on record as needing an opener who scores quickly but you
can’t score runs in the pavilion, as a certain ex Yorkshire opening batsman is
keen on telling us on the radio.

Hales...struggled

As well as number two, England have questions over the
numbers three and five roles. Compton grinds it out but the cricketing
cognoscenti, some aspects of the media and twitterati all seem to have doubts
about his ability to change gear when needed. He seems to go from first to
fourth, yet fourth is not his natural game and results in a cheap dismissal.
James Taylor, despite an outstanding series at short leg seems to struggle
against the short ball. Not just the Australian bowlers but the quick guys all
around the world will have put that into their memory bank and he needs a big
score in the number five slot. If England are building a brave new world, of
which Taylor is part of, then he needs some runs to silence the doubters. To
misquote Aldous Huxley, “No England stability, without individual stability”.

Then we have the wicket keeping issue. Before I get a fatwah put on me by those that read these pages from the People's Republic of Yorkshire, Jonny Bairstow is
worth his place in the side on batting alone. He has looked solid and is better
than a number seven in Test cricket. His problems on this tour lay in his
glovework, Johannesburg aside. He had twenty seven opportunities in this series
and snaffled twenty. That is not a good enough ratio for a Test wicket keeper
and puts pressure on other aspects of the team. Dropped chances and missed
catches littered the past few series and are starting to haunt the team. Not
only do the batting side profit but keeping your bowlers out there for much
longer than they need to be is a recipe for injuries. Bairstow has an inner
desire to get better allied to a fabulous work ethic but the problems are
technical. Amla, De Kock and Stephen Cook all took advantage of the
Yorkshireman’s generosity, something you don’t hear that often.

Bairstow...worth his place as a batsman

England’s track record in the last Test of a series needs to
be looked at too. It is as if we run out of steam and seven out of the last
eight series have ended with defeat in their final game. Coincidence?

To summarise as an England fan it was a series well won and
we would all have taken a win before the battle started. South Africa have also
come out of it in a positive fashion with Amla back to his best and the youth
of Bavuma and Rabada sparkling like a Kimberley diamond.

For England though there are still plenty of questions that
need answers.